Thursday, June 11, 2015

Sourland Mountain Preserve Family Hike Trip Report

Some friends invited us out to hike with them to the Sourland Mountain Preserve and we were happy to join them. We had not been there in a couple of years so it was nice to explore it once again. The Sourland Mountain Preserve is located in the Hillsborough Township, in New Jersey and is about a 27 minute drive from home. It's nice that it's another hike not too far from us.

At the trailhead there are porta potties which is always nice in case anyone needs to use the facilities. 
There is also a nice big pond in eye's distance from the parking lot. It looked pretty neat and we saw people picnicking by the pond. Seems like a nice place to sit and relax.
The preserve is pretty big at 4000 acres. Here is a map I got from their website:
Source: http://www.somersetcountyparks.org/parksfacilities/sourland/sourlandmtpreserve.html
With 4 kids total in our group and one of the kids being two years old, we knew we weren't going too far on our hike. That's what is great about the Preserve, is that you can go as far as 1-5 miles depending on the trails you take and still have a fun experience. 

Our goal was to head to Devil's Half Acre Boulders and do a loop to number 4 and head back to the trailhead. The trail was great for the kiddos because they loved the rocks along the way. They even made a game of stepping on the rocks.
There were some big ones along the way to the boulder field that they enjoyed climbing and sliding down.
When we got to Devil's Half Acre Boulders the kiddos had more fun trying to climb the rocks. If you have kids, just make sure you watch them as it can be dangerous.
After hanging out at the boulders for a while, we thought we headed on a trail that we thought was going to number 4 on the map, but turned out we took the wrong trail and ended up doing just the loop around the boulders at C and headed back down. 
The kiddos led the way pretty much the whole time and had a blast. I think they especially had more fun because they had their friend J with them. :)
On the way down we turned off to get a little bit of hiking on the boardwalk. I like the boardwalks because it is just something a little different from other hikes and it makes for great pictures. 
Overall, the hike is great for all! We ended up doing only 1.76 miles (according to Runkeeper). The kiddos had lots of fun. I would say the highlights of the trail are the big rocks and boulders. The kiddos loved climbing them. I also liked the boardwalk, even though we went on a small amount, it makes the trail a little more interesting being slightly elevated. I should also mention that you need to watch out for poison ivy along the trail. There was lots that we spotted. When we got home, we made sure to shower and soap just in case we got any on us. It turned out we were ok.  Living in NJ we also always need to check for ticks. NJ is one of the states with the highest risk of Lyme disease, so always make sure to check after hiking or being outdoors.

7 comments:

  1. Gorgeous trails and a fun adventure! I well remember hiking with little kids and knowing our time before baby blew up was limited.

    ReplyDelete
  2. So many amazing places near you to hike.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks Abby! Yes, it's nice there are cool places to hike nearby!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Marcia! Yeah, they are getting better now and can go for a bit longer.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The boys looked like they had so much fun hiking with their buddy. I had no idea NJ had the highest instances of Lyme Disease.

    ReplyDelete
  6. They sure did! Yeah, it is kinda scary. Just the other day after playing soccer at the park, we found a tick for the first time on one of the boys, so not even hiking we have to check.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Looks like a fun hike! Great pics!

    ReplyDelete